Heat Transfer Mechanisms - Exercises

Mechanisms
1. The wall of an industrial furnace is constructed from 0.15 m thick clay brick having a thermal
conductivity of 1.7 W/mK. Measurements made during steady-state operation reveal temper-
atures of 1400 and 1150 K at the inner and outer surfaces, respectively. What is the rate of
heat loss through a wall that is 0.5 m high and 3 m wide?
Ans.: Q = 4250 W.
2. The front of a slab of lead (k = 35 W/mK) is kept at 110 C and the back is kept at 50 C.
If the area of the slab is 0.4 m2 and it is 3 cm thick, compute the heat flux, q, and the heat
transfer rate, Q.
Ans.: q = 70 kW/m2 ; Q = 28 kW.
3. A copper slab (k = 372 W/mK) is 3 mm thick. It is protected from corrosion by a 2 mm
thick layers of stainless steel (k = 17 W/mK) on both sides. The temperature is 400 C on
one side of this composite wall and 100 C on the other. Find the temperature distribution
in the copper slab and the heat conduction through the wall.
Ans.: TCu,left = 255 C, TCu,right = 245 C, q = 1233 kW/m2
4. The heat flux, q, is 6000 W/m2 at the surface of an electrical heater. The heater temperature
is 120 C when it is cooled by air at 70 C. What is the average convective heat transfer
coefficient, h? What will the heater temperature be if the power is reduced so that q is 2000
W/m2 ?
Ans.: h = 120 W/m2 K, Theater = 86.67 C
5. A 0.1-m-thick brick wall, k =0.7 W/mK, is exposed to a cold wind at 270 K, with a film
coefficient of 40 W/m2 K. The other side of the wall is in contact with calm air at 330 K and
film coefficient of 10 W/m2 K. Calculate the heat transferred per area and time.
Ans.: q = 224 W/m2
6. The outer face of a boiler is at 80 C. A wall that isolates the boiler from the outer environment
at 25 C has been built, in order to avoid accidents. The wall is 18 m long, 8.50 m high and
0.40 m thick. The film coefficient between the air and the outer face is 20 Kcal/m2 h C and
that one between the air and the inner face 8 Kcal/m2 h C. The thermal conductivity of the
wall is k = 0.70 Kcal/mh C. Determine:

a) The heat lost to the outer environment through the wall.

b) Both faces of the wall have been coated with isolating material. The coat is 1 cm thick
and its thermal conductivity is 0.06 Kcal/mh C. What will it be now the heat loss to
the environment?

Ans.: a) Q = 11273.7 kcal/h, b) Q = 7793.38 Kcal/h

7. A leading manufacturer of household appliances is proposing a self-cleaning oven design that
involves use of a composite window separating the oven cavity from the room air. The
composite is to consist of two high-temperature plastics (A and B) of thicknesses LA = 2LB

Engineering in Mechanical Degree: Thermal Engineering 1

 Heat Transfer Mechanisms - Exercises

and thermal conductivities kA = 0.15 W/mK and kB = 0.08 W/mK. During the self-cleaning
process, the oven wall and air temperatures, Twall and Tair , are 400 C, while the room air
temperature T is 25 C. The inside convection and radiation heat transfer coefficients hi
and hr , as well as the outside convection coefficient h0 , are each approximately 25 W/m2 K.
What is the minimum window thickness, L = LA + LB , needed to ensure a temperature that
is 50 C or less at the outer surface of the window? This temperature must not be exceeded
for safety reasons
Ans.: L = 62.7 mm
8. A thin silicon chip and a 8 mm thick aluminum substrate are separated by a 0.02 mm epoxy
joint (Rc,epoxy = 9 105 m2 K/W). The chip and substrate (k = 230 W/mK) are each 10
mm on a side, and their exposed surfaces are cooled by air, which is at a temperature of 25 C
and provides a convection coefficient of 100 W/m2 K. If the chip dissipates 104 W/m2 under
normal conditions, will it operate below a maximum allowable temperature of 85 C?
Ans.: Tchip = 75.3 C, Yes
9. A black thermocouple measures the temperature in a chamber with black walls. If the air
around the thermocouple is at 20 C, the walls are at 100 C, and the heat transfer coefficient
between the thermocouple and the air is 15 W/m2 K, what temperature will the thermocouple
read?
Ans.: Ttc = 51.3 C
10. Suppose that the thermocouple in Exercise 9 was not black and had an emissivity of = 0.4.
Further suppose that the walls were not black and has a much larger surface area than the
thermocouple. What temperature would the thermocouple read?
Ans.: Ttc = 35.6 C
11. The diagram (see Fig. 1) shows a conical section fabricated from pyroceram (k = 3.46
W/mK). It is of circular cross section with the diameter D = ax, where a = 0.25. The small
end is at x1 = 50 mm and the large end at x2 = 250 mm. The end temperatures are T1 = 400
K and T2 = 600 K, while the lateral surface is well insulated. Determine:
a) The heat transfer rate. Ans.: Q = 2.123 W
1/x1/x1
b) The temperature distribution. Ans.: T (x) = T1 + (T2 T1 ) 1/x 2 1/x1

Figure 1: Conical section

Engineering in Mechanical Degree: Thermal Engineering 2